's lap, and strove to catch his eye and indicate to his dull
masculine intelligence the necessity of hiding them until they could
devise a plan of breaking the sad news.

Mrs. Bird's glance and Mr. Bird's entire obliviousness were too much
for Polly's gravity. To their astonishment she burst into a peal of
laughter.

"'My lodging is on the cold, cold ground,
And hard, very hard is my fare!'"

she sang, to the tune of "Believe me, if all those endearing young
charms." "So you know all about it, too?"

"How did you hear it?" gasped Mrs. Bird.

"I bought the evening paper to see if that lost child at the asylum had
been found. Edgar jumped on the car, and seemed determined that I
should not read the paper until I reached home. He was very kind, but
slightly bungling in his attentions. I knew then that something was
wrong, but just what was beyond my imagination, unless Jack Howard had
been expelled from Harvard, or Bell Winship had been lost at sea on the
way home; so I persisted in reading, and at last I found the fatal
item. I don't know whether Edgar expected me to faint at sight! I 'm
not one of the fainting sort!"

"I 'm relieved that you can take it so calmly. I have been shivering
with dread all day, and Jack and I have been quarreling as to which
should break it to you."

"Break it to me!" echoed Polly, in superb disdain. "My dear Fairy
Godmother, you must think me a weak sort of person! As if the burning
down of one patrimonial estate could shatter my nerves! What is a
passing home or so? Let it burn, by all means, if it likes. 'He that
is down need fear no fall.'"

"It is your only property," said Mr. Bird, trying to present the other
side of the case properly, "and it was not insured."

"What of that?" she asked briskly. "Am I not housed and fed like a
princess at the present moment? Have I not two hundred and fifty
dollars in the bank, and am I not earning twenty-five dollars a month
with absolute regularity? Avaunt, cold Fear!"

"How was it that the house was not insured?" asked Mr. Bird.

"I 'm sure I don't know. It was insured once upon a time, if I
remember right; when it got uninsured, I can't tell. How do things get
uninsured, Mr. Bird?"

"The insurance lapses, of course, if the premium is n't regularly paid."

"Oh, that would account for it!" said Polly easily. "There were
quantities of things that were n't paid regularly, though they were
always paid in course of